The Woman's Right to Choose Back on the Agenda

By Ingrid Brown, IPS, 13 May 1999

KINGSTON, May 13 (IPS) - The growing number of babies being
killed or abandoned at birth, has once again put the abortion
debate and the woman's right to choose firmly on the agenda.

"If an abortion is properly done, nothing is wrong and the
woman will be able to have as many children as she wants when she
is ready. Nobody should decide for a woman whether she wants her
baby or not," says one gynaecologist who requested anonymity.

Because abortions are now illegal, many women either resort to
going full term with the baby and abandoning it at birth or go to
unqualified persons, thereby endangering their lives.

For instance, Marie Smith was only 13-years-old when she became
the victim of a date rape, resulting in her pregnancy. As the
youngest daughter in a Christian family, who was doing well in
high school, she just could not imagine having this baby. The
only way out was an abortion.

This was easier said than done and nearly cost her life as the
operation was done by a pharmacist in the backroom of his
pharmacy in one of the inner city areas in Kingston.

Had she died, the pharmacist could have faced life imprisonment.

Under Jamaican laws, it is a crime for a pregnant woman to
administer to herself any poison or any type of noxious substance
or to use any instrument or any other means to abort a foetus.
Is she does, she would be guilty of a felony and if convicted
liable to life imprisonment.

Furthermore, if a doctor, or any other person carry out an
abortion without justifiable reasons such as severe medical cases
then this is an offense which also attracts terms of
imprisonment.

Some say fortunately for many Jamaican women and physicians who
conduct the procedure, prosecuting someone for having an
abortion is not a priority.

Deputy Superintendent of Police, James Forbes, says he has
never heard of anyone being arrested for doing abortions. "I
think it is more a theory than something which is enforced," he
says.

But then because abortion is illegal it is not very accessible
or affordable. This has resulted in many young women, mainly
those in the rural areas, resorting to drinking a wide variety of
herbal mixtures in an attempt to abort the foetus themselves.

In the urban areas, the women tend to seek the assistance of
persons not qualified to perform the procedure, such as
pharmacists. This often results in medical complications and at
times even death, as these untrained persons do not have the
proper equipment or skills to conduct the procedure.

As a result of the botched abortion , Smith (not her real name)
has had severe medical problems and may never be able to conceive
another child.

"My parents didn't know anything about abortions and so it was my
cousin who suggested that I could go to this pharmacist. We didn't
even know that he didn't know what he was doing," she says.

Like Smith many other women complain of health problems resulting
from botched abortions.

Ilene Thomas calls herself an herbalist. She says she often brews
herbal mixtures to assist girls who become pregnant but do not
want to have the babies to "get rid of the foetus".

"You just have to know which bush to boil together and if the
woman just get pregnant this will help to wash out the baby," she
says.

Thomas says that it is mainly teenagers who come to her for
this type of treatment. "Sometimes the girls get pregnant while
in school and the mothers won't let them keep the baby and so the
mothers themselves take them here to me," she says.

Reports here indicate that in 1995, 13 cases of infanticide were
recorded. Between 1990 and 1995 the figure was 35. Figures for
the years following are not available, but there are some
persons who argue that based on the number of stories which are
now becoming public of babies being found abandoned or dead, that
figure would have increased significantly.

There are also other cases where mothers give birth to babies and
walk away from the hospital leaving behind their newborn.

A nurse who works at a counselling organisation, says in recent
times she has been receiving many calls, especially from young
girls who want to have abortions done.

She too is concerned that many women go to unqualified persons
who are willing to do this procedure at a much cheaper cost than
say a gynaecologist. The untrained person, she says, may charge
a mere 100 dollars whereas if it is done by a gynaecologist or
obstetrician it costs 300 dollars.

The nurse who requested anonymity says the equipment used by
these 'unauthorised' persons usually results in the woman getting
infections.

"When I used to work at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital many young
women came to the hospital after they developed serious medical
complications while having an abortion done by these untrained
persons, " she says. "Sometimes they die."

One gynaecologist says he does up to five abortions per month at
a cost of more than 270 dollars each. "I don't openly advertise
it as one of the services which I provide but most people know
that gynaecologists do these things and so they will come here to
me," he says.

Attorney-at-law, Antoinette Haughton, is one of those persons
who feel that it is time that the government does something about
the illegality of abortion. "... Many women are put at risk
when the state does not come forth and deal with an issue like
this," she says. She however adds that it is not that simple,
especially when there are so many lobby groups against legalising
abortion. "

"Nothing will be done about it for now...," she says. "The
society is too hypocritical and I believe that abortion should be
a matter of choice."

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